They Call Me Sonic
by FriedMetaki
Summary: For a long time, no one has ever been given a true answer behind Sonic's origins but the curiosity still remains. Why is he called Sonic? Why has Dr. Robotnik been after him for all these years? Why did he become a hero? This story's purpose is to attempt to answer those questions. Warnings: AU!Origin, a few OCs, character deaths.
1. Unidentified Object

Author's Note: The oddest thing happened to me awhile ago. I had this oddly vivid Sonic dream but the way it played out, I thought it would've actually made a pretty interesting fanfic. I'm not entirely sure what direction the fanfic is going to take itself in since the bits of the dream I do remember aren't very clear. But I'll try to write down as much as I can anyways just to see what this thing has planned for itself. Enjoy!

Remember, feedback is always appreciated! By the way, large segments of the story that are italicized usually means it's flashback scene.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters that are mentioned in this story, with the exception of the obvious OCs that have never been used in the series before.

* * *

In the bustling city of Green Hill Zone, resided an orphanage with children playing happily outside. Even though most of them would never know their parents, they were all quite content. The caretaker of the orphans was a kind woman always cared about the children's wellbeing. At least that's what the adults of the neighborhood were told it was like. Yes, it only looked like a picture perfect orphanage on the outside. On the inside, however…

Things were entirely different from that. The orphans staying there only wished the rumors held some actual truth to them. Sometimes they weren't even sure if the caretaker actually liked children. More often than not they were barely given much time to have any fun. And a lot of the times they were absolutely miserable there. It was unfortunate but there was not much that the children could do about it, so they just coped.

However, there was one orphan who refused to accept this dreary life. He was determined to do change it for the better. He was daring, he was adventurous, he was wild and incredibly reckless. He was Sonic the hedgehog, or at least that's what he's called NOW. Back then, before he earned his famous title he was simply known as Ogilvie. Yes, that was his real name much to his chagrin. It was a name that he hated being called by.

He was certain he had finally made sure everyone understood that and they did, with the exception of Ms. Blanche. Sure, he might've just knocked over a priceless vase but he didn't have to go use his first name like that. And in front of the other kids too! That was just taking it too far.

"Olgilvie Takeshi Hedgehog!" Ms. Blanche shrieked his full name in a fit of unbridled rage. All of the other kids in the orphanage were not fazed by it. It had become routine to witness her chewing Olgilvie out for the latest mischief and/or prank he got in trouble for.

"Ooh, you're really gonna get it now, Oggie," A brown hedgehog who had her hair tied up in a ponytail with a yellow bow remarked. She was a good friend of the blue troublemaker, who aided him in his mischief. Thing was though, she handled her missions with more finesse than her blue furred pal did so she tended to get away with it.

"Ugh," The one dubbed "Oggie" cringed in disgust at the usage of his full name, knowing that when he heard that he was really in for it. He often wondered what his parents had been on when they gave him that name, "I know, Tiara. But if we try to juice it real quick we might get outta this scott-free."

"I'm down with that, Oggie," Tiara confirms that she really approves of the idea by initiating their honorary handshake. Though she wasn't as fast as Oggie, she enjoyed trying to keep up with him when they escaped from trouble, "Let's juice!"

"Let's juice!" Oggie chimed in time with her before they sped off. Unbeknownst to them as Ms. Blanche was out of their line of view by the time they sped off, they had escaped her wrath in the nick of time.

The children hating woman in question huffed irately when at the sight of the passing duo. Ms. Blanche knew there was no point in chasing after them since the boy and his little friend were too fast for her to keep up with. It seemed as if super powered mobians were appearing in this generation every other day, "You may have won this round, Mister Olgilvie but mark my words, I'll see to it you receive proper punishment!"

The black female bat turns her attention to the shattered pieces of her prized vase. She sighs grimly, wishing there was some way she get out of this job. As she cleaned up, Blanche began to mentally scheme a way to get a replacement caretaker so she wouldn't have to work in this hellhole anymore. She had always wanted to be a fashion model anyways.

The two mischievous orphan children were speeding through the orphanage, giggling all the way. Oggie was honestly impressed by the improvement his friend Tiara was making in increasing her speed. And she was just a normal hedgehog too, which really boggled his mind. Though to be honest, she was only normal in appearance. Tiara had always been a unique girl which is why he could relate to her.

In fact one very unique feature about her that stood out the most was her last name. Yes, her full name was Tiara Boobwoski. He felt bad for the poor kid, since her surname made her the target of a lot of teasing. But luckily for the both of them, that was something that had brought them together. They were both the oddballs of the orphanage, in both their names and personality. They had first met after Olgilvie had stood up for her when one of the fellow orphans, Big Vinnie, was bullying her over her name.

_Olgilvie was bullied quite constantly himself, so he was really ticked off to see a girl bullied over something so miniscule. After awhile he'd accepted that he was prone to being bullied, he gave said bullies a lot of material to work with. But they were giving her a hard time all just because she had a funny sounding NAME? He never thought it sounded all that funny sounding anyways. So naturally, Olgilvie had to do something about it. He hated oppression more than anything else._

_When he first approached the tough guy though, he was honestly scared out of his wits. Vinnie was one of the biggest kids in the orphanage, which wouldn't have intimidated him were it not for the fact that 99% of that mass was all muscle. Olgilvie was a bit of a chubby kid back then himself, but he had zero muscle to make up for his size. Plus he had never really been in an expert in combat or any sort of fighting. To be honest he had no idea he was going to survive in this stand-off._

_He was probably going to get killed. Well, looking at the undying hatred burning in Vinnie's eyes he was DEFINITELY going to die. The blue hedgehog stood his ground firmly but started to back up when Vinnie called his goons on him. Oh, now this was NOT fair. Olgilvie couldn't even least throw in a sucker punch on him this way! He should've expected it though. Vinnie played dirty as well as fought dirty, it seemed._

_He braced himself for what seemed like an inevitable beating until suddenly an aerial yoyo came out of nowhere and rammed into Vinnie's nose. Olgilvie had not expected that a yoyo would hurt as much as it did, so he stood there stunned for a moment as Vinnie writhed in pain over his now broken nose, "Aagh, I'm bleeding! That stupid yo-yo broke my nose! I'm gonna kill whoever threw that!"_

_Olgilvie stared dumbly at the fallen bully as his goons forgot about the fighting match and went to their leader. He tore his attention away when he heard the girl he was standing up for call his name. The blue hedgehog was still so baffled that he found it difficult to tear his attention away from the scene but eventually took the opportunity to escape. The two hedgehogs exited the scene of the crime before their warden was called over to the scenario by the tattletale of the orphanage._

_The two hedgehogs sighed in relief after the warden departed with the bully, leading him to the medical aid kit. Now that the coast was clear, Olgilvie headed out to the playground with the girl. For awhile they looked at each other not entirely sure what to say. Eventually though, the silence was finally broken. It was the girl who took the dive, which surprised Olgilvie a bit._

_Though it was the confident way she held herself that really surprised him. If he hadn't been there to see it, Olgilvie would've never believed she'd ever been bullied a day in her life, "So you're that new kid everybody's been goin' on about, right? I mean you've gotta be, since you're the only blue hedgehog in this dump. The name's Tiara. JUST Tiara. Don't call me by my full name or I'll hafta pound ya."_

_Olgilvie blinked for a second, unsure if he rescued the right girl. This couldn't possibly be the same girl who was about to burst into tears earlier over her name being ridiculed, "Um-uh-you see-I think-"_

_"Close your mouth kid or else you'll catch flies!" Tiara giggled over how Olgilvie instantly shut his mouth from her warning. Or maybe it was because of the funny look he had on his face, most likely due to her straightforward attitude. She tended to take a lot of people by surprise that way, "You're pretty funny, I think I like you. What's your name?"_

_Olgilvie narrowed his eyes in irritation. This was the only thing he hated about meeting new people, telling them his name. They always ended up laughing at it, "Do I really have to?"_

_"How can I talk to you if you don't tell me your name? Would ya rather I called you No Name instead?" Tiara was so little like what Olgilvie was expecting he barely knew how to talk to her. He had honestly been expecting a more damsel in distress type of girl, but this girl was made entirely out of sass, "Well? I'm waiiiting."_

_"Just don't laugh all right? Pinkie swear it," Tiara rolled her eyes over the fuss he was making over it, but complied anyways. He seemed to really believe saying his name would be the end of the world, "My name is… Olgilvie."_

_"Olgilvie?" Tiara knew she wasn't supposed to laugh but she couldn't help herself. She covered her mouth with her hand so as not to make too much noise and alert Ms. Blanche, "Wow, what a name!"_

_"You said you weren't going to laugh! You went back on your promise!" Olgilvie complained, sending the chortling female hedgehog a stern reprimanding glare. He crossed his arms in a huff, wishing now that he'd never saved her from that bully._

_When Tiara's laughter finally subsided, she patted him on the back reassuringly. He hadn't been expecting her to be so strong either, her pat nearly knocking the wind out of him, "Aw come on! I didn't mean nothin' by it! Tell ya what, I'll make it up to ya. Since you're new here, I'll show ya around."_

_"Well..." Olgilvie examined her expression with a paranoid glance as he analyzed the honesty in her offer. She did seem to look like she felt bad about laughing at him anyways. With a sigh, he settled on the idea, "Okay then. After all, I don't even know where my bedroom is in that huge place."_

_Tiara chuckled in an easygoing tone as she headed inside with the blue hedgehog, "See? I'm not all bad. And plus on the way, we can think of a better name to call you by."_

_Olgilvie instantly nodded his head in agreement to that plan, "Oh, definitely. So, how does the nickname Og-Dude sound?"_

_Tiara wrinkled her nose in distaste at nickname, "Eh, okay. But not good either. How about we just call you something simple, like Oggie?"_

_"Oggie...yeah. I like the sound of that. It's got a nice ring to it."_

_"It does, doesn't it? Oggie, I think you and I are gonna be good pals from now on."_

_"You know what? I was just thinking the same thing."_

And yes, from that day they have been an inseparable pair ever since. The two hedgehogs have been doing nearly everything with each other. They were a regular Bonnie and Clyde kind of duo, much to Ms. Blanche's chagrin. They drove her crazy with all of the trouble they got caught up in. The trouble they just escaped from a few minutes ago was a good example of one of the many ways they did that. It wasn't that they hated her though, they just like messing with her.

Unfortunately for her, that became a bit of a hobby for the two. But this time it wasn't just out of spite, there was an actual reason that the vase had broken. In fact, Olgilvie wasn't even trying to break the vase, it was just an accident. But try explaining that to a woman that wouldn't hesitate to ship him off to Peru to get him out of her hair. What Tiara and Olgilvie had been trying to do was find a good hiding place for an odd little charm they found on the playground. They weren't even entirely sure it was a charm either, but they just somehow knew it was valuable.

Now that the two had reached a secluded spot, they checked around once more to ensure the coast was clear. They nodded to each other in confirmation before Olgilvie took out the aforementioned "charm." The partners in crime ogled at it in sheer amazement, mesmerized by its shiny glow. It had just looked like a regular diamond. That had tempted Olgilvie to sell it to the merchant that hang out by the orphanage at first but it seemed too important for that.

The problem was there weren't many places to keep it safe until they could figure out what it was. Olgilvie sighed longingly at the gem in spite of this though, wondering how much it would've gone for, "Man this stupid rock is really deceiving. If it didn't want people to sell it for money, why did it go and make itself look like a diamond?"

"But I'm tellin' ya it's not some emerald. It wouldn't make sense for us to find a diamond in a place like this anyways," Tiara explained to her friend for what felt like the umpteenth time. She'd though she'd already established that fact.

"It doesn't make sense for th-this…this…" Olgilvie huffs in exasperation as he struggles to find the right word to describe it with. He finally gives up, settling on the usual word used to describe an unidentified object, "THING to even be here! You saw how fast it was makin' me go earlier! I couldn't even _see_that stupid vase!"

"Yeah, I saw! You were practically just a blue blur! I knew you could go fast, but I didn't know you could be THAT fast!" Tiara almost couldn't believe that what she had seen was real, though. There was no way anything could be that fast, but she'd witnessed it clear as day.

Olgilvie makes a 'hmm' sound as he taps his finger from the hand that's not holding the gem on his chin contemplatively. He stares at the jewel for a long time before finally deciding on something, "You know what I think it is?"

"What?"

"I think it's a piece of a fallen metor!"

"…that's just stupid, Oggie. Real stupid."

"Oh yeah? You got a better idea of what it might be then?" Olgilvie didn't seem to appreciate having his guess called stupid, which was evident by his irritated expression.

Tiara sighed, knowing it was often almost impossible to talk to him when he had that expression on his face, "Well no, but I know it's not apart of a meteor. If there was a meteor, that woulda been all over the news!"

Olgilvie had to admit there was some truth to Tiara's words. Besides, meteors usually weren't a shiny blue color, "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But until we know what it is, where are we gonna keep it?"

Tiara stopped for a moment to do some thinking herself. After some time of brainstorming, a solution came to her, "How about in your room?"

"Nah, we all share rooms in the orphanage cuz we don't got much space remember? And I share a room with Vinnie," Olgilvie explained, his irked tone not directed at her but more at the roommate he mentioned, "You know him, he'd be low enough to take somethin' that's not his, especially if he assumes it's some sort of diamond like we did."

"Yeah and we don't want THAT to happen. Well all I can think of is putting it in my room," Tiara responded, allowing her friend to think it over before they decided on it. Then just to assure him, she added, "My roommate Sissy is blind as a bat, even with her glasses sometimes. She'd think it's just an ordinary old rock."

"Hey, that _is _a good idea! So we'll hide it in your room then. Remember to take good care of it," Olgilvie cautioned her, hesitantly handing the emerald over to her. But they were so startled by the sudden appearance of Ms. Blanche, that Tiara impulsively shoved the emerald back in Olgilvie's hands to prevent Ms. Blanche from seeing it. Then Olgilvie ended up hiding it in his quills before their warden could see it.

"See? See? I told you they were hiding in the kitchen! I was right wasn't I, Ms. Blanche?" The tattletale of the orphanage, known as Priscilla, told Ms. Blanche jumping up and down excitedly.

"Yes, I can see that Priscilla. No one likes a tattletale," Ms. Blanche rolled her eyes out of annoyance at the girl's enthusiasm. The woman found that this child was even more annoying than the one she detested the most, Olgilvie. After the girl left the scene giggling nastily over her triumph, the black bat stomped over to Olgilvie, "_You _are coming with me, young man."

Olgilvie whines in annoyance as he tries to pull his wrist out of her grasp, "Aw come on! Can't we talk things over? I wasn't trying to break that vase, honest!"

"The only way I'd believe that is if I were born yesterday. What do you take me for, an idiot?"

"You _really_ don't want me to answer that."  
xxx

Meanwhile, a long ways away from Green Hill Zone was a mad scientist was typing away at a keyboard, searching up information. His face was already blank enough but the dark blue glasses covering his eyes made it even more impossible to tell what he was thinking. A thoughtful 'hmm' sound escapes his lips as he ponders over a page of encoded information. It seemed to hold his interest for awhile but after reading through it at a quick pace, he scoffs and closes the document.

He mutters something under his breath about researchers being absolutely useless before he opens the other folders. Oh, how he wished his old colleague Jules was still alive. Jules would've been able to tell him exactly what file would give him the information on that old project. Jules was a world famous scientist who had uncovered a lot of amazing discoveries. In fact, he had been the one to build the roboticizer.

That invention had been an absolutely amazing work of art. The instant news on the man- or hedgehog, rather- had gotten out to him, he had been quick to work with him on the new project that had been started. The project had been a top secret experiment that only few scientists were granted access too. It was understandable though, if even one bit of data had been calculated wrong the whole WORLD would've fallen to chaos.

The man chuckles in amusement at the idea, a mischievous grin spreading tickling the corners of his mouth. Ah yes, that would've been quite a sight to see. Paranoia getting to him again, the man looks around once more to ensure none of his colleagues had seen that. Tch, those worthless people. They all claimed he'd gone crazy after his old science lab partner Jules had died. That was utter nonsense. As advised for years, he had always kept his work relationships entire casual. The very idea that he had possibly gotten attached to Jules was ridiculous.

…wasn't it?

The old man sighs as he puts his research to a halt, leaning back in his chair to briefly reminisce of the old days. While he never tried to establish a friendship with his lab partner, that didn't mean that he'd wish such a horrible fate on him. It had been quite a pity too. Jules had been murdered by his own project after it had all gone horribly wrong. He had tried to do everything that he could to save Jules from that abominable monster.

He narrows his eyes at the thought of that horrible thing. Even before they started the project, something in his head told him to warn Jules not to work on it. If only he had listened to that warning. If only he had KNOWN that it was a warning at that time. He sighs again as he nudges the feelings of regret into the back of his head. He shouldn't keep dwelling on the past. In fact what he needed to focus on was searching for the whereabouts of the Chaos Emeralds.

He remembered that with the last of his energy Jules had sealed away the chaos emeralds in hidden locations where most wouldn't find them. That had been the only way to contain the power of that beast, for awhile at least. Only problem was that he had been unconscious at the time when the beast had mauled him during his attempt to rescue Jules, so that meant he didn't know exactly where Jules chose to hide them. Knowing Jules, he probably had recorded the information in an encoded file even during his last moment.

That man was one of the worst OCD cases he'd ever seen, so he wouldn't put it past him. Now if only he could just located that blasted file! He'd been at this all day and it was starting to wear on his patience. Just as he was about to wreck the computer apart in a fit of fury, he FINALLY comes across the right file. Could it be? Was this finally what he had been searching for after all this time? Yes, it was! Yes! His efforts have been paid off after months, years even, cracking codes and unlocking hidden files!

Oh joy, oh rapture, oh happy day!

The man cackles with pure glee over his victory, feeling that it's about time things were looking up for him again. He was absolutely elated at all of the doors of opportunity opening up to him now. He didn't even know which one to choose! Well obviously, the first goal he'd keep going for was to avenge Jules' death, of course. That was what he had started on all of this researching for. But how could he make this benefit the most important person of all, himself?

Hm…he hadn't thought about that before until now. Yes, he could find a way to tweak this plan so that he could still also do what _he _wanted. There was so much he had in store for this horrible planet full of horrible people. Chuckling to himself, he was so busy daydreaming about this plan of his that he almost failed to notice one of his colleagues enters the room.

A grey rabbit turns on the lights, puzzled as to why his colleague had been working on his "personal assignment" in the dark. He blinks when the other doctor turns over to him with a surprised look, in mid-maniacal laughter position, "…I'm not even going to ask."

The maniacal doctor in question clears his throat, promptly attempting to regain his composure. He spruces himself up a bit, straightening out and dusting off his ruffled labcoat. With all of this busy researching he had been doing, he hadn't even noticed what a mess he was. He turns over to the rabbit, remembering that someone was there and asks in a demanding tone, "What is it that was so important that you had to interrupt me when I finally made a breakthrough, Dr. Lightfoot?"

Dr. Lightfoot arches an eyebrow at the doctor's hasty attempt to gussy himself up. He never really understood the oddities of that man and to be quite honest he didn't want to close enough to him to understand him, "I arrived to inform you that SEGA inc. is closing down for the day. You should head home soon."

"Is that so?" The doctor passes him a grin so malicious that it makes Lightfoot shudder in fear. The doctor gets up from his seat, leans in close to the grey rabbit and whispers in a small voice, "Well, do you know what I have to say about that?"

Lightfoot gulps, uncertain if he should call security on this man or not. The doctor has definitely been very unstable ever since Jules had passed away, "What?"

The doctor leaned into Lightfoot's face closer and closer until they faces were touching. He could practically smell the fear coming from the rabbit, "I _quit." _With that, he walked away from the rabbit and turned to exit the room like nothing had happened.

Lightfoot rubbed his eyes to be sure that he wasn't seeing them. D-did that really just happen? So baffled by the statement for a moment he almost couldn't figure out what to say. He couldn't possibly be serious, "B-but Dr. Kintobor! Please reconsider! Listen to what you're saying! I know things must be rough for you ever since Jules has passed away but you shouldn't throw away your whole career like this-!"

While he's in the middle of making his leave, he turns around to the face the rabbit to say one last thing, "Oh by the way, don't call me Kintobor anymore, John. From this point on, you shall only refer to me as…_Robotnik."_


	2. Interrupted Vacation

Author's Note: For anyone who might be wondering, no Blanche is NOT related to Rouge at all. She just also happens to be a bat. The idea of Blanche having relatives is a disturbing thought anyways. And sorry if the opening bit to this chapter with Mighty and Ray seems a bit...sketchy. It took me awhile to try to find out how to develop their relationship, dialogue and their personalities. I promise that their next scene will be written a bit better. But it's not exactly easy to write for characters that have only appeared once in a very obscure game that had no cutscenes, heh. I know the story is starting off a bit slow but things will get more interesting soon, I promise.

In fact, I'll try to make the rest of the story a bit more interesting to make up for this less than second rate chapter. Maybe the extra Robotnik scene will make up for it! Enjoy! Remember, feedback is always appreciated!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters that are mentioned in this story, with the exception of the obvious OCs that have never been used in the series before.

* * *

-A few months later-

A black and red armadillo leans back against a recliner, enjoying the feeling of letting the sunrays warm up his fur. Yep, it couldn't get any better than this. It was the most perfect beach weather he'd felt in awhile too, it was just sunny enough but not overbearingly so. The experience would've been a little better without all of the loud people, but hey- at least he didn't have to save them for once.

Mighty reaches over to grab his shades and puts them on, feeling quite swagger as he grins cheekily. Mighty then turns on the boombox he had also brought along with him that's sitting on the edge of his chair. He switches through the radio channels until he gets to the techno music section. With a smirk, Mighty gives a thumbs up in approval as he resumes relaxing again.

He was tempted to pinch himself be certain he wasn't just dreaming that this wonderful moment was happening but he really didn't feel like moving. Besides, if it was a dream then Mighty never wanted to wake up from it. Mighty had been wanting a vacation like this for so long that he didn't want to jinx it. Ever since he became a hero he had never really had a chance to relax anymore.

Whether it was bad guys threatening to destroy the planet or thugs trying to start trouble, he couldn't get a break. But for once, in what felt like YEARS, he was actually getting to enjoy himself. All of the villains seemed to be dormant on this particular day which made it all the more perfect. But then again who wouldn't want to take a break on such a perfect day? That was exactly why he marked this day on the calendar.

Ah, for once he had absolutely nothing to worry about. Life is good.

Just as Mighty was about to drift off to sleep, he's rudely awakened by someone who's prodding him with a stick. He starts at first trying to bat the stick away, "Stop it, go away! I don't wanna get up!"

"Oh for crying out loud, Mighty! How can you relax at such an important time?" The voice exclaims in exasperation, a voice that just so happens to sound very familiar to the armadillo.

Mighty grumbles as he attempts to remain despondent until the guy leaves, but he eventually gives up. It was kind of difficult to pretend to be dead when someone's poking at you with a sharp stick, to say the least, "Ugh, what do you want Ray? Can't you see I'm that I'm TRYING to have a vacation?"

The yellow squirrel crosses his arms together in a huff, momentarily discarding the stick. He gives his companion a stern glare, irritated by his lazy attitude, "Nice shades you got there, Mr. Superhero."

"I know right? These shades were a really good deal too on my salary-" The armadillo is interrupted when Ray flicks off his glasses, _"hey!"_ Mighty finally gets up now, almost knocking over his boombox in the process. He gives the yellow squirrel his own glare, threatening him to cut it out by shaking his fist at him, "What's your problem, dude?"

"My PROBLEM is that you're sitting here slacking off when there's danger!" He sighs irately when Mighty yawns in boredom at his rebuttal. Ray pulls out the newspaper he had been reading earlier before he approaches Mighty, "You don't believe me? Then you should read this!"

Mighty recoils in disgust as soon after he gets a face full of newspaper,blocking out the view of the beautiful beach before him. He immediately shoves the newspaper away, annoyed with his friend's persistent behavior, _"Ew_, newspaper print."

Ray rolls his eyes at his friend's shallow behavior, knowing he should've expected such a response. But unfortunately that didn't make it any less annoying. He moves over closer to the armadillo, pointing to a specific entry in the newspaper, "See that? THAT is why we need to investigate immediately!"

"Hm…" His curiosity finally peaked, Mighty contemplatively observes the articles written in the newspaper. A particular one, that Ray hadn't noticed, was what caught his eye. The armadillo takes the newspaper out of his teammate's hands to examine it more closely for himself. He lets out a derisive chortle, which confuses Ray, "Ha! This is it? So ole Dr. Kintobor finally snapped, huh? I gotta tell ya I saw it comin', I always knew the old coot was nuts."

"Ugh, not that! THIS," Flustered a bit from the embarrassment of realizing he had shown Mighty the wrong article, Ray takes the newspaper back. He fiddles around with the pages until he finds the right one, then hands it back to the hero, "This is what I was talking about."

"Alright alright, lemme see it," Mighty replies, still having yet to be exposed the information that had shocked the flying squirrel. Migty takes the newspaper back when Ray places it into his impatiently waiting hands, tapping his foot exasperatedly. Now with the newspaper in front of him at the right article, his eyes are immediately brought to what Ray had been fretting over, "What? 'Organic Mobians Replaced With Metallic Counterparts?' How did I not hear about this before!"

Ray gushed over this opportunity to put his Intel at work since Mighty didn't seem to know much about the issue this time. That rarely ever happened, as in most cases people reported these things to Mighty first, "The case even had professional investigators baffled by it is why. It started a bit more discreetly at first, just a few select small areas being targeted. But lately the attack has been spreading out at an alarming rate, which alerted the media."

Mighty was still in so much shock that he didn't really hear his friend's words. The armadillo was still trying to wrap his head around the whole idea. He didn't understand what bring someone to do something so awful to their fellow innocent Mobians. Assuming that the culprit was of course, another fellow Mobian, "What else do you know about the situation Ray? Do you know if it's a machine that's doing this? Or even what the identity of the sick twisted monster that's behind this is?"

The yellow squirrel knew he should be as worried as his companion, but he couldn't hide the smile forming on his face. THIS is the Mighty that he first met that fateful day, the justice loving vigilante he was proud to be partners with. The squirrel hadn't always been his partner from the start.

It was inspiring to see the armadillo get into his serious hero mode when a new disaster appeared. Now he was practically struggling to sort through what piece of info he had was useful and what wasn't, "Well no one has actually seen the person that's been doing this yet. He doesn't even have a name so far. But, from the observations I've made I can tell that the work was done by a machine. There aren't any known Mobians WITH superpowers that are capable of doing something so precisely by hand, without at least leaving some potential evidence behind."

Mighty passes his buddy a gracious smile for the information, then ruffles his head playfully as if he's a child. Though to Mighty he'll still see Ray as that geeky tween who did everything to be his partner all those years ago, "Good work Ray, we're at least that much more ahead of G.U.N on this case then. What would I do without you?"

"You'd still be slacking off like the lazy bum that you are, I presume," Ray smirks, never able to resist the urge to tick off his friend. Besides, he was only messing around. Surely, Mighty should be able to understand that.

"Don't start with me, Ray!" Mighty warns him, shooting him an exasperating glance. All he earns in return is a precocious smirk, but he shouldn't have really expected Ray to immediately reform. The flying squirrel had a bad habit of teasing his mentor. A habit that Mighty hoped he would grow out of after awhile, but he hadn't. Oh well, that wasn't what mattered right now, "In any case, you know what all of this tells me? We're on our way to start a new adventure!"  
-

Oglilvie heaves out a long, drawn out sigh as he taps his gloved fingers edgily against the desk he's been sitting in. The blue speedster felt like he must have been here for hours, but then maybe he had. Times like this proved that there was nothing worse in the world than waiting for something. While yes, there were horrible crimes going on in the world yet Oggie couldn't help but feel that his current plight was far more awful. Or maybe he was just being biased.

But he felt that his biased outlook on his situation was highly justified with Ms. Blanche incessantly chatting on the phone in the background. He had never realized just how grating her voice really sounded until now. Oglilvie didn't even understand what they were talking about either, so he couldn't even entertain himself by eavesdropping. It would be pointless to listen into a conversation that made no sense, at least not to him.

Though if he had to make a guess, she was probably complaining to the people in charge of the orphanage about what a nuisance he was to her. Oglilvie did not find the thought a particularly pleasant one to dwell on, but it was most likely the truth. Oh well, if she thought of him that way then now he'd really have to put in his best efforts to drive her even crazier. It definitely couldn't be the other possibility that someone was calling because they were interested in adopting him.

As if. The blue hedgehog had long ago given up hope on that notion after a couple years in this orphanage. The adults who browsed idly through here had a real penchant for crushing a kid's spirit. It's not like Oglilvie could blame them though. Who'd want a spiny blue kid that spent his leisurely time pulling pranks on his superiors? And a spiny blue kid that was cursed with the ability of super speed at that? No way, that's an instant deal breaker. Oglilvie had far too often heard these complaints in his earshot on the rare occasion when Blanche suggested the idea to them.

You see, on Mobius super powered Mobians used to be an extremely rare oddity a couple centuries back. Ones that were mostly mentioned in history textbooks, labeled as godly legends. These such cases included Genesis the Hedgehog, King Blizzard, Onyx the Wolf, Bronze the Echidna and so on. But again, these guys were revered as HEROES, not seen as disgusting freaks that didn't even deserve a passing glance. But lately, it seemed like a lot of Mobians had an ancestral connection to these heroes that they weren't aware of. At least they hadn't been aware until it became obvious when their little angels started showing amazing super strength or levitation powers.

Oglilvie probably figured that when his parents noticed he would run faster than he could crawl they labeled him as an unnatural freak and shipped him away to the nearest orphanage. Well, that was probably a slight exaggeration, but he couldn't think of any other reason. That was another thing that he hated about waiting for hours on end. It usually lead to him dwelling on unpleasant thoughts like these. He was just a kid, he shouldn't be concerned about these sorts of matters. After what felt like the length of five generations passing by, Blanche finally ended her telephone conversation. Then she turned over to him with a leer, seeming hesitant to give him permission to go.

She briskly walks over to him, passing him an arrogant look he's seen far too many times on the faces of snobby aspiring parents. But that doesn't make it any less tolerable to look at, not even slightly. All it does is fuel his dislike- not hatred- for this woman. Yes, even Oggie couldn't say he hated her but he didn't enjoy her company either, "As much as I hate to make the time you spend here even relatively more tolerable, you're free from your punishment for now. I'd prefer to have you stay in this room longer, but I'm not quite interested in being arrested for charges of child abuse if I let you wither away and starve."

The blue hedgehog rolls his eyes at the bat's explanation, wondering why she's blatantly lying about her nonexistant concern for his wellbeing when there was no publicity neabry to impress. Maybe what she meant was that she wouldn't want something like that to get on the news and smear her so-called "good name." Not like she had one of course, but that would make more sense for her personality, "Uh-huh. Cut it out with the act. We all know you don't like kids, so you're not foolin' nobody."

Blanche narrows her eyes at him in distaste as if she's just eaten spoiled food. Although, in her eyes having to deal with these uneducated children wasn't too different from how unpleasant that would be, "Correction, Mister Oglilvie, it's I'm not _fooling anybody. _If only you had been born with the superpower of basic grammar comprehension, but we can't have everything we want. For example, I wish that I were a hair stylist rather than a warden at a run-down orphanage. Or perhaps a science teacher or an actress or…"

The blue hedgehog yawns in an unnecessarily exaggerated flourish as his caretaker rambles on. She really needed more self control over her habit of constantly talking about herself for hours. Oglilvie couldn't fathom why she thought her words would interest him anyways. He checks his wrist, momentarily forgetting that he can't afford a watch, much less new shoes, and then promptly interrupts the conversation. He just couldn't be expected to sit patiently through this kind of dribble, "Uh, not that this conversation isn't interesting but I got better things to do, madame. Gotta juice!"

The blue hedgehog speeds off (literally) at the speed of light, stunning Blanche into a silence for a moment. It takes her awhile to register that he left since her eyes couldn't keep up with how quickly he ran. Once it does become evident to her she huffs irately, a little peeved that he cut her off so abruptly. But rather than let that get to her, she instead chastises him for a rule he frequently disregards, "For the last time, don't run in the hallways young man!"

The rule breaker in question though, can't even hear her as he's already zoomed through half of the orphanage by now. He can barely see much of anything, as the velocity of his speed has distorted everything and everyone into a colorful blur. That was why he didn't even stop to apologize when he knocked over some of the orphans nearby. He was only thinking about one thing in particular, his current destination. Normally he just ran where ever the wind took him, but in an enclosed building like this there weren't many options for the wind TO take him to. Besides, he always had the opportunity for that when it became available to him.

When he had told Ms. Blanche he had more important matters to take care of, he had actually meant it. Well, he also wanted to weasel out of the less than interesting discussion she had almost entrapped him, too. But that wasn't the only reason behind his hasty escape. Even with the unpleasant thoughts that had swarmed his mind earlier, he hadn't forgotten his most recent, important priority- the emerald. Blanche had prevented him trying to contemplate its origin any further by dragging him to her makeshift solitary confinement room. That had been an unanticipated distraction, but he had managed through it.

Now that he had gotten out of that annoying little predicament, it was time to get down to business. The blue hedgehog didn't need clear vision to tell that he had already reached his destination, promptly skidding to a halt. Oglilvie now finds himself by the jungle gym, and can see that there are a lot more kids playing outside now than they were earlier. Hm, that means he will have to be a lot more discreet when he discusses what to do with this emerald with Tiara. Speaking of which…he hoists himself up on the monkey bars, climbing until he's next to the brown hedgehog. She's hanging upside down so her expression is a bit unreadable, but he approaches her anyways.

"Yo, Tia! Were ya lonely without me?" Oglilvie asks in a teasing tone of voice, passing her a smug grin. His friend switches her position so she manages to balance herself on the bars well enough to sit him. Oggie struggles slightly to do the same, wondering how she could pull off stunts. Even his own flexibility didn't hold a candle to hers. She'd probably grow up to be an acrobat at some point in the future.

"More like bored to death! Do you know how long I was waiting for you to bust outta there?" Tiara is quick to chastise him as if she's an over protective mother. Oggie would've laughed at the image of her being a mother someday if it weren't also incredibly frightening. Besides, he could bet his life on it that she wouldn't have any qualms with socking him if he did laugh at her. When Tiara wasn't in the best of moods- like now- it was best not to try to tease her. Unless you had a death wish, that is, "Nobody's any fun around here in this old dump! They don't got any good schemes or nothin'."

Oglilvie fails to fight back the urge to smirk in amusement as he envisions Blanche reprimanding her for forgetting her grammar if she had been here to hear their conversation. But it's not like he'd have the right to get on her case for that, he was no good at proper grammar either. He didn't know why Blanche bothered teaching that junk to them anyways. It's not like they would ever need it for anything important, "Well duh, that's what I'm here for! To make this place less of a drag. You guys wouldn't know what to do without me."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Don't get a big head about it," Tiara responds, playfully punching him in the shoulder but not so much that it would hurt. He feigns a pained expression as she's seriously hurt him and she rolls her eyes, telling him to cut it out. They both laugh over his dramatics for a bit until Tiara remembers the emerald. Then her face becomes eerily serious, as she asks, "So, is the emerald okay? Ya didn't lose it or nothin' while you were with Ms. Blanche right?"

"Of course not! You really don't give me enough credit, Tia!" The blue blur has to steady himself carefully as he picks the emerald out of his quills. Tiara gives him a weird look, as if saying "Seriously?" over his odd choice to hide it in. He casually shrugs, barely preventing himself from falling of the bars but doesn't seem fazed by that. He'd made a habit of stashing the emerald in his squills since it was easier to hide it that way and he couldn't imagine why wanyone would to sift through sharp quills to get to it, "Hey, where else was I gonna hide it? I didn't have much time to think about it when you got ME busted for YOUR plan, ya know! Let's set off the sprinklers for a laugh, you said. Nobody's gonna notice, you said. It's not like we'll get caught, you said-!"

Tiara rolls her eyes over her friend's incessant whining. He didn't realize it, but he could almost be as bad as Ms. Blanche at times. She didn't say that out loud though, so as not to irritate him further, "Alright, I get your point but don't whine about it. What's important right now is seriously thinking about what to do with this thing. But I got to thinkin' about it while Ms. Blanche had you behind bars and I'm pretty sure I've actually seen something like this before too."

Oglilvie perks his head up at Tiara's confession, all ears for what she has to say now. Not that listening to her was as unpleasant as it was to listen to Blanche, but he didn't have the longest attention span. It was only when interesting things were being discussed, did he find it easier to listen, "Really? No kidding? Do ya remember if anybody had a specific name for this thing?"

Tiara stares at the emerald in frustration as she tries to remember, but shakes her head resignedly when she gets no results. She sighs in disappointment in time with Oggie, wishing she could've been more helpful there. But unfortunately, she hadn't been as lucky as all that, "Well…no. BUT before my old man croaked, I saw tons of gems just like this one stashed away in this vault in his room. I was kinda little so I don't remember too much, I mostly know there were eight of 'em. They were all in this neatly stacked row- pops was freakishly organized about EVERYTHING- and all of 'em had different colors. So I know that they weren't just normal emeralds."

"But I thought you said your pop was some kinda government dude. What would he have wanted with 'em?" Oglilvie questions, getting more and more intrigued by this new information. Normally these kind of stories bored him, but gem's safety was more important in his boredom. Besides, it was a little difficult to not be interested in learning more about this gem.

"That's what I was wonderin' when I found 'em. Pops was a little mad at me for getting into the vault but he told me all about 'em when I said I was just curious. He said that an old friend asked for him to keep them safe. But then he also said..." Tiara continues, pursing her lips together in concentration the way she does when she's trying to recall something. Oglilvie figured out that this was what she was doing pretty quickly, since he was accustomed to this idiosyncrasy. Her face brightens up as the picture comes to her clearly, before she says, "Okay, it might be a little sketchy but this is what he said about 'em. It didn't make sense to me, though it might help for you to know it. He said it like this, 'The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power…power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos.'"

"...What else?" Rather than impatiently demanding an answer, Oglilvie waits for the rest thinking there must be more left. But when she doesn't utter anything more, he gives her a quizzically. She offers him an apologetic glance, shrugging her shoulders.

"Sorry, that's all I know about 'em. That's why I told ya not to sell the emerald for some extra rings. That phrase appeared in the back of my head when you showed it to me, though I didn't realize it at first," Tiara regrets not having more to tell her blue furred friend, but she didn't have anything else. The rest of her memories after that, after the…accident that is, were a bit fuzzy. She mostly remembers more about her life here at the orphanage than anything else, "If I knew anything else, I'd tell ya right away."

Oglilvie understands though, he even gives her a grateful smile for what help she did give to him. Even if it was just a little bit, they knew that much more about the emerald than before, at least. The only problem still, was finding an adult that they could help them with this emerald. Basically any adult that wasn't Blanche would do, since they didn't trust her even the tiniest bit. All the orphans knew she was desperate to become rich so she could finally ditch this dump so jewls were not safe around her, "It's okay, Tia. I know you would've."

"So in the meantime, what are we gonna do with this thing? We can't toss it, but we can't use it for nothin' else either," Tiara replies, just as frustrated by this situation her partner in crime is. It didn't help that with their living condition, they didn't have many places to hide it in. All they had thought of for that so far was hiding it in Tiara's room. But even that wouldn't last forever, since something was bound to mess it up. Then surprising even herself, Tiara comes up with an idea she hadn't considered, "Oh, I got it! We need more info on this thing, rignt?"

"Uh yeah, I thought we already established that awhile ago," Oggie replies rudely, arching an eyebrow in confusion at why Tiara was stating the obvious. He didn't quite understand where she was getting at with this. Both of them already knew that they didn't understand much about this thing, they both already knew that.

Tiara groans at how dense her friend can be sometimes. Though he was more fun to hang out with than any kid in the orphanage he could be a little exasperating in moments like these, " Do I have to explain everything? Now, I know it might so way past uncool, but you know that small library Ms. Blanche has in her office? Well, maybe one of her books might have info on this emerald and the seven chaos thing."

Oglilvie starts when the sound of the word 'library' reaches his ears, even grimacing slightly. Wasting his whole day inside STUDYING was not the sort of thing that he was into. It wasn't that he hated books or anything, but he was all about MAKING adventure happen! Reading about adventure when he had the physical ability to do that didn't appeal to him, "Ew, you mean we'd have to read and junk? I dunno, this plan isn't soundin' all that great..."

Tiara rolls her eyes at his response, knowing that she should've expected something like that from him. In any other situation, she would've reacted the same way but this was different. Right now, they couldn't ignore any possible way to get more information. It wasn't like they had much choice either, so there was no point in whining, "Oh stop whining! It's REALLY boring, but reading isn't all that bad. It can be pretty helpful too if you got the right books."

Oglilvie still didn't seem entirely convinced, but he knew it was a bit silly to complain over something so trivial. The consequence from letting this gem get into the wrong hands would surely be a lot worse than boredom. With that in mind, he sighs as he reluctantly accepts the idea. As much as he didn't like it, they needed every bit of help that they could get, "Okay, I guess it's not that bad if you put it like that. BUT you better be sure we'll benefit from this! If I end up dying outta boredom in that stupid library, I'm includin' in my biography that it was all _your_ fault!"

Much to the blue hedgehog's chagrin, Tiara didn't have the self control to hold back her outburst of laughter over Oggie's wild exaggeration.  
-

"Oh ho ho ho ho! I just knew this plan was going to be brilliant from the very start!" A certain mad scientist chortles gleefully over the progress he's been making in his work. Everything was working out just as he had planned for it to. He had honestly not expected for it all to happen so easily.

Robotnik had been prepared for a lot of trial and error, but it unexpectedly resulted in becoming a huge success. He wasn't about to take all the credit for his luck, though. It helped that the threat he had been warned about was making very slow progress on figuring out his plan. Another bout of luck that had occurred was he had successfully tricked one of his colleagues into stupidly giving him the blueprints for the discontinued roboticizer project. Although now that he thought about it, he should be a little more lenient with the gullible rabbit. If it hadn't been for John's (unintended) helping hand in this plan Robotnik had to admit he might not have gotten this far.

Perhaps when Robotnik's new world Eggman Land is established, he should make an honorable mention when he introduces it to the rest of Mobius. But it is still debatable whether or not if he should go through with still roboticizing the rest of the Lightfoot family. It would be awfully rude of him to leave them out of the fun, after all. Robotnik certainly doesn't want to leave the impression that he discriminates against rabbits. He'll have to think about that later, when he's gotten to the last few steps in his ingenious plan.

He mustn't get ahead of himself. Fate has a habit of not showing much mercy for those he get overly confident in their plans, or to those who count their eggs before they hatch, so to speak. No matter, what he needed to concentrate on was the second part of his plan. Robotnik had actually not initiated this crucial step yet. He had gotten so excited when he managed to build the roboticizer on his own that he had gotten a little caught up in, er...testing it out. That had been his only mistake so far, as now his roboticizing spree has alerted far too much attention to his scheme.

It was going to be that much more difficult to be more discreet about this second step. Robotnik didn't want to bring any sort of suspicion to himself now that he knew even G.U.N was tracking down any possible suspects. That was really the only thing he needed to worry about so far. It's not like that 'Mighty the Armadillo' character could do anything to stop him! Robotnik had been careful to not leave behind any traces of evidence that the naked eye could see. Even if he had read the news about this spectacle, Mighty had no idea who he was, what his name or even where his base was.

Although, he didn't think anyone would be able to guess where his base was. It was in a remote area that hide base so very snugly that the government could search through the area as many times as they pleased without detecting a thing. Even if they managed to find the entrance, there was no possible way for them to get past his high-tech security or the quick sand for that matter! Yes, his Sand Ocean base was surrounded by large pits of quick sand. It was so well guarded that even Robotnik had a difficult time getting into his own home base.

Those so-called threats didn't stand a chance against him, really. Even if they figured out his plan and his identity, he still had this one hideout to rely on. It was where he was hiding right now actually, though he wasn't exactly just there to hide in it. It had a very helpful computer system built into it that would aid him in getting the right kind of information he needed. He was looking for a specific Mobian, one that he had not seen in a very long time. Even in the midst of his excitement, he had not forgotten about his main goal.

That goal was of course, to gain revenge on the one who was responsible for the death of his dear old colleague, Jules. If memory served him right, the failed experiment was sent to a specific place for safekeeping after the release of the emeralds' power had tamed it. Robotnik drums his fingers against the edge of the keyboard as he concentrates as deeply as he can to recall that important detail. It's on the tip of his tongue, but it's not something he always thinks about. Perhaps if he typed in the name of the creature he would get the right results to appear.

The name was such a ridiculous one too, he couldn't fathom why Jules had thought that name was a good idea to give to it. He was positive that it started with an O. Ah, that's it. Robotnik flashes a demented grin as he types up the name into the search engine. The mad scientist is shown a number of various results, but decides to settle on one. Luck must really be on his side, he inwardly muses to himself, as the result he happened to choose gave him exactly what he needed. But it's not as if he was complaining about that either. It's about time fate is deciding to let things go his way. At first though, Robotnik didn't understand how an orphanage of all things would help him.

He continues to sort through the orphanage's website in spite of his doubts however, until he discovers a list of the children living there. He immediately halts when his eyes land on the very name he was searching for. A few titters escape from his mouth at first, but then he bellows out with hysterical laughter at his endless amount of luck. It was just so hilarious that he couldn't help himself. If he didn't know any better, he'd think that fate decided to join in on his plan too. This was all just TOO easy for him! After his fit of laughter dies down, he regains composure, but his amusement over the spectacle does not fade.

"I think it's about time I paid a good friend a little visit. I'm sure he'll be absolutely delighted by the surprise I'll leave for him," Robotnik says to no one else in particular, once again chortling as he prepares to leave for his new destination. He barks orders at his robot servants to set up everything up for his trip. Meanwhile, a few miles away a very anxious and restless rabbit suddenly experiences a sinking feeling in his gut at that exact moment.


End file.
